The Brown & White

A three-day conference designed to harness the thinking powers of students, professors, government officials and the Bethlehem community explored the idea of perfection and how South Bethlehem could become an urban utopia.

"The City as Utopia: Bethlehem and Beyond" conference combined academic sessions with cultural representations and artistic interpretations of Bethlehem in relation to the concept of utopia.

Sponsored by Lehigh's American Studies Program and the South Side Initiative, the conference was held from April 11 to April 13. History professor and co-director of the South Side Initiative John Pettegrew said this event was a culmination of this year's efforts to explore the past, present and future of the South Side as it undergoes the change associated with the incoming casino.

"The conference is an effort to aim high, basically… to draw from history, from literature, music, art, architecture, city planning; any number of disciplines and fields to see what other people in different times and places have done with the city as concept, as physical space, as a community," Pettegrew said, "and to use this venue of a conference to see what could come of Bethlehem in the next five, 30, 50, 80, 100 years."

Thursday evening featured a reception with a photographic presentation of Bethlehem and an introduction to the idea of Bethlehem as a utopia.

On Friday and Saturday, Linderman Library hosted a series of academic sessions on topics ranging from visions for the city to examinations of utopian thinking. There was also a film screening of documentaries and student work.

A performance of the jazz opera "Beneath the Stacks" was held Friday night at Hotel Bethlehem. On Saturday, conference attendees toured the Bethlehem Steel Site.

Pettegrew said the conference was another step in forging a better connection between Lehigh students and the South Bethlehem community.

"The more of this work that Lehigh can do, the better," he said. "Since I've been here for 12 years now, there has been a real shift towards offering up courses and different programs that get Lehigh students off the Hill, out of the class room and into their communities … and I see this conference and the South Side Initiative in general as an exercise in that as well."

The conference brought together a range of experts, community members and academic participants to share knowledge and ideas.

Silagh White, director of ArtsLehigh, participated as chair of "The Greenway of South Bethlehem: The Next Steps in Defining the Design and Function" session. White said a critical aspect of the conference was to combine creative ideas with strategies to implement those visions.

"Idea is one thing but knowing how to execute it, implement it, strategize it to make it actually realized is another piece," she said.

At the session, Darlene Heller, Bethlehem director of planning and zoning, presented a slide show detailing a project that will develop the former railroad corridor running through South Bethlehem into a public greenway trail.

Heller said the greenway will link existing neighborhoods and green spaces, improve local streets where they intersect with the greenway and develop activity nodes including a skate park and tree nursery.

The first phase of development for the greenway will include implementing an "Adopt a Greenway" program to get as many organizations involved as possible.